Political will, not ECB bond buying will dictate euro’s fate: Merkel

VIENNA, Austria – Germany’s chancellor says the euro’s fate depends more on the need for bold political decisions by members of the 17-nation zone than it does on the European Central Bank’s new powers to bolster financially struggling countries.

Angela Merkel spoke to reporters on Friday, a day after the ECB decided on a broad policy of buying the bonds of economically troubled European governments to ease their borrowing costs.

The head of Germany’s central bank was opposed to the ECB move. But Merkel was open to the plan as long as the nations benefiting agreed to strict economic reforms — a condition the ECB adopted.

Merkel says the ECB made it clear “the future of the euro will be decided fundamentally by political action, and that conditionality is a very important point.”